Patriarch

:See Patriarchs (Bible) for details about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible.

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Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a composition of "?????" (pater) meaning father and "?????" (archon) meaning leader, chief, ruler, king, etc.

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Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are referred to as the three patriarchs of Judaism, and the period in which they lived is called the Patriarchal Age.

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The word has also taken on other meanings. In particular, the highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East are called patriarchs. The office and ecclesiastical conscription (comprising one or more provinces, though outside his own (arch)diocese he is often without enforceable jurisdiction, unlike the Pope of Rome) of such a patriarch is called a patriarchate. Historically, a Patriarch may often be the logical choice to act as Ethnarch, representing the community that is identified with his religious confession within a state or empire of a different creed (as christians within the Ottoman Empire).

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According to Mormonism, a patriarch is one who has been ordained to the office of Patriarch in the Melchizedek Priesthood. The term is considered synonymous with the term evangelist. One of the patriarch's primary responsibilities is to give Patriarchal blessings, as Jacob did to his twelve sons in the Old Testament. In the main branch of Mormonism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Patriarchs are typically assigned in each stake and hold the title for life.

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Patriarchs (Bible): :For uses not directly related to the Bible, see Patriarch and Patriarchy....

Abraham: :Abram redirects here. For other uses of Abram, please see Abram (disambiguation)....

Isaac: Isaac or Yitzhak (יִצְחָק "He will laugh", Standard Hebrew Yiẓḥaq, Tiberian Hebrew Yiṣḥāq; Arabic اسحاق ʾIsḥāq) is a Biblical patriarch, the son and heir of Abraham and the father of ...

Patriarch related Images and Photos (experimental)

Bessarion Latin Patriarch of Constantinople

St. Louis King of France Receiving Robert Patriarch of Jerusalem in Damietta in 1249 1846

The Burning of Photius's Books and the Verdict on the Patriarch Photius